Hypothalamus and pituitary volume in schizophrenia: a structural MRI study

Volumetric differences of the hypothalamus and/or the pituitary gland tend to support involvement of the HPA axis in psychotic disorders. These structures were manually outlined in 154 schizophrenia patients and 156 matched healthy comparison subjects by MRI brain images. Linear regression analyses were performed to investigate differences in volume between groups. Moreover, the effects of illness duration and type of medication were investigated. No significant differences were found between patients and healthy controls in volumes of the hypothalamus and pituitary gland. In addition, there were no differences in volumes between patients with short and long illness duration. There was a trend towards patients receiving typical antipsychotic medication at the time of scanning having larger pituitary volumes than patients receiving atypical medication. These findings indicate that volume decreases in brain structures important for the normal functioning of the HPA axis are not present, either in recent-onset or chronically ill patients.